Mt. Holly Gardens relocation efforts deemed inadequate

TRENTON - Mount Holly's efforts to relocate residents of a low-income neighborhood set for demolition and redevelopment have been inadequate, highlighting the need to reform New Jersey's redevelopment laws, according to a report released yesterday by the state's public advocate.

The public advocate, Ronald K. Chen, said the township offered more compensation in voluntary purchase agreements than was legally required to residents of the 327 affected homes, yet it was usually not enough for them to find comparable homes in the area.

As the township acquired, boarded up and demolished more and more homes in the Mount Holly Gardens neighborhood, residents felt they had no choice but to sell their property at the inadequate prices, according to Chen. His office's year-long investigation found township-ordered appraisals determining how much Mount Holly would provide for the homes were too low because appraisers factored in surrounding run-down conditions caused by the municipality.

Chen noted that nearly half of the households in the neighborhood earn less than $20,000 annually, but compensation under the voluntary agreement has not been nearly enough to cover the Burlington County township's average home sale price of over $200,000. The planned development of 520 residential units and commercial and office space will only have 56 units of affordable housing in the Gardens' place, he said.

Mount Holly has been offering homeowners between $30,00 and $50,000, depending on their number of bedrooms; $15,000 in relocation assistance; and a $20,000 no-interest loan, among other benefits.

The public advocate's investigation wades into a longtime controversy that has pitted the township's desire to rebuild what it views as a perennially crime-ridden, blighted neighborhood against Gardens residents' wishes to keep their close-knit community intact. Many are decades-long residents who have paid off their mortgages, built deep social ties, and see no future without the Gardens.

"As in Mount Holly Gardens, [redevelopment] projects often end up destroying affordable housing and forcing displaced residents into less desirable and less affordable living situations," the report said.

The report includes recommendations to the Legislature that displaced homeowners must receive compensation allowing them to relocate to comparable homes in their communities. Displaced tenants should receive the full difference between their old rent and their new rent in a comparable unit for at least seven years, with no time limit for senior citizens or disabled people living on fixed incomes.

The report also recommends that residents should receive at least six months' notice from their municipality before demolition begins, and must then be allowed to demand fair compensation and quality for relocation assistance whenever they wish to go. And when redevelopment leads to the demolition of affordable housing, municipalities must replace as much of that housing as possible.

The problems accompanying the Gardens' redevelopment have been especially acute for seniors, the report found. One resident, Carole Richardson, 71, said she received $54,000 for selling her house of more than a decade to the township in March. Now she lives in a trailer in Columbus. Another resident, Evans Jackson, 63, anticipated paying off his home loan in three years but had to enter into a new 30-year mortgage after receiving $116,000, including a loan, from selling his house to the township two years ago.

"I love the Gardens. I love my house . . . a lot of people that are 70 years, 60 years, where do we go?" said resident Marlene Tobar, 69, alongside Chen at a news conference.

Jim Maley, an attorney for Mount Holly, said, "We were not provided with an advance copy and we're playing catch-up trying to read it and look at it."

State Sen. Diane Allen (R., Burlington) issued a statement yesterday in support of the public advocate's recommendations, some of which are already being addressed to varying degrees in legislative bills.

A group of residents represented by South Jersey Legal Services sued the township of Mount Holly and the developers in U.S. District Court in Camden on May 27, after losing a previous legal battle.

The township designated the neighborhood as "blighted" in 2002, helping to launch the redevelopment process, which has so far cost over $16 million. As of Aug. 1, 75 lots had been demolished and 148 were vacant, according to the report.